Katherine Jenkins

Katherine Maria JenkinsOBE (born 29 June 1980) is a Welsh mezzo-soprano singer and songwriter. She is a classical-crossover singer[1][2] who performs across a spectrum of operatic arias, popular songs, musical theatre and hymns.[3]

Between 1991 and 1996, Jenkins was a member of the Royal School of Church Music Cathedral Singers and passed the St Cecilia Award, the highest RSCM award for female choristers.[7] She was also a member of the National Youth Choir of Wales for three years,[8] won the BBC Radio 2 Welsh Choirgirl of the Year contest (twice), and the BET Welsh Choirgirl of the Year competition. She was also awarded the Pelenna Valley Male Voice Choir Scholarship for the most promising young singer. At the age of 17 she won a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Music,[7] graduating with honours[8] and receiving a music teacher's diploma.

After working as a freelance voice coach, a tour guide on the London Eye and as a model,[9] she entered a modelling competition and became the Face of Wales 2000. She then decided to follow a musical career.[7]Universal Classics and Jazz heard her demo and she was invited to an interview where she sang Rossini's "Una voce poco fa".[9] Universal offered Jenkins a six-album deal,[9] the most lucrative in the United Kingdom's classical recording history, reportedly worth £1 million.[7][10][11]

Six out of seven of Jenkins's studio albums reached number one in the UK classical charts between 2004 and 2008, selling a total of more than 4 million copies. After her first album, Premiere, made her the fastest-selling mezzo-soprano to date[7] she became the first British classical crossover artist to have two number one albums in the same year.[12] She is the first female artist to win two consecutive Classical BRIT Awards: her second album, Second Nature, reached number 16 in the UK Albums Chart,[10] and was Album of the Year in the 2005 BRIT Awards.

Jenkins's Italian-language version of Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You" ("L'Amore Sei Tu"), first performed live at Nostell Priory, West Yorkshire on 28 August 2005, was the first cut on her third album Living a Dream. After that album was released, uniquely, she held the top three positions in the classical crossover music chart.[7][13] The album held the number one position for nearly a year and reached number four in the pop album charts.[13] Jenkins repeated the success of Second Nature with her Living a Dream album when she won the classical BRIT award for Album of the Year for a second time.[14][15]

Her fourth album, Serenade was released on 6 November 2006 and reached number five in the mainstream charts selling more than 50,000 copies in its first week, a record in the genre.[7] The top four albums on HMV's classical charts were hers.[16]

Her fifth album, Rejoice, was released on 19 November 2007 and included songs written specially for her,[17] two by Take That's Gary Barlow.[18] The album entered the pop album charts at number three,[19] beating the Spice Girls and Girls Aloud.[20] Jenkins commented "I never imagined when I was a young girl listening to them on the radio that I would outsell the Spice Girls and Celine Dion. It’s almost too much to take in. I can’t thank my fans enough for all their support."[20]

On 20 October 2008 Jenkins released Sacred Arias, which is her last album with Universal Music. On 19 October The Daily Telegraph stated that Jenkins had signed the biggest classical recording deal in history, for US$10 million (£5.8 million), with Warner Music.[21]

In November 2006 she performed before the Queen at the Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall and joined fellow Welsh singer James Fox in the final verse of "Anthem" from the musical Chess.[29]

At the beginning of 2009, Jenkins performed in South Korea with Plácido Domingo. This was Jenkins's third concert with Domingo having performed with him in Hong Kong in 2008 and Athens in 2007. They then performed together in May 2009 at The Classical Brit Awards.

On 8 July 2009, Jenkins performed at the opening ceremony of the Ashes Test Series between England and Australia at Sophia Gardens cricket ground in Cardiff. On 12 September 2009 she performed in Hyde Park for Proms in the Park. On 21 September 2009, she performed at the memorial service for Sir Bobby Robson, singing "Pie Jesu" at the request of Lady Robson.[citation needed]

On 24 May 2010, as part of the Argentina Bicentennial she performed the Canadian Anthem at the Argentina VS. Canada World Cup warm-up football match in the River Plate Stadium at Buenos Aires.[citation needed] On 11 June 2010, Jenkins performed a live comedy routine with Armenian comedy pianist Kev Orkian for a private birthday party at which singer Lionel Richie performed, along with the LSO (London Symphony Orchestra) and comedians Bobby Davro and Jethro.[36] The comedy sketch was an updated version of an old Victor Borge routine which Orkian had written and developed with Jenkins. In her official blog, Jenkins mentions that she may one day perform the routine in public. On 3 July 2010, Jenkins took the stage at Cheltenham Racecourse, with the National Symphony Orchestra. She was supported by violinist Diana Yukawa.[37]

Jenkins performed at the opening night gala Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod in July 2010.[38]

During March and April 2013, Jenkins went on tour with Il Divo for their first and only European and UK tour. She also participated in the 2013 U.S. Memorial Day Concert in Washington, D.C., singing a selection from Andrew Lloyd Webber's Requiem and You'll Never Walk Alone from Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel.

She made a cameo appearance in two episodes of Emmerdale which saw 11.6 million viewers tune in to find out who killed popular character Tom King, who was murdered on Christmas Day. She also appeared in the show on 16 and 17 May 2007, which saw her opening the village pageant.[40]

In July 2007, she performed live on Saving Planet Earth on BBC 1 to raise money for the BBC Wildlife Fund.[41]

On 12 August 2007 she appeared on ITV's Britain's Favourite View, nominating Three Cliffs Bay on the Gower Peninsula as Britain's favourite view.[42] She commented; "I grew up on the edge of the Gower, but it was still a holiday place for our family. We’d go on weekend breaks to Three Cliffs Bay – six miles down the road! That’s how gorgeous it is."[43]

In February 2012, Jenkins was announced as one of the contestants on the fourteenth season of the American celebrity ballroom show, Dancing with the Stars. She was partnered with two-time champion Mark Ballas. Jenkins and Ballas came runners-up in the competition.[4]

In April 2017, Jenkins appeared on Operation: Magic, a one-off magic show on ITV1, acting as the assistant to magician and Britain's Got Talent winner Richard Jones.[48] During the show, she took part in a mind-reading trick involving a military band, and also assisted in a number of illusions including being levitated, vanished, guillotined and sawed in half.[49]

During her run on the 14th season of the show, Jenkins continually scored ceiling-high scores, enabling her to top the weekly judges leaderboard more time than anyone else on the season (six times out of ten). Her foxtrot in the first week of the competition was rewarded 26 points, matching the record for the second-highest score given in week one at the time. Her waltz in week 3 was tremendously praised and Jenkins was rewarded 29 points, which was the record for the highest score ever given in week three at the time. Jenkins made her way all the way to the semifinals, getting at least 27 points of judges' score for every dances but two occasions only.

During her salsa in the semifinals, Jenkins' partner Mark Ballas accidentally kicked her in the back, leading to a spasm that made Jenkins mess up her final moves,[citation needed] but she advanced to the finals nonetheless, along with Donald Driver and William Levy. Jenkins bounced back in the finale, getting perfect score 30 out of 30 for all three of her dances, and eventually finished as a runner-up to Driver. Her performances average was 27.9, the third highest ever in the show's history at the time.

Her father, Selwyn, died of lung cancer at age 70 when she was 15.[7][51] She has dedicated each award she received to him. Jenkins, a Christian, says she believes "in heaven. I believe my dad is somewhere doing something nice."[52] While Jenkins was studying at the Royal Academy of Music, at 19 years of age, she was attacked, beaten and robbed by an unknown assailant who attempted to rape her, but she fought him off.[53][54]

After Jenkins and Dame Vera Lynn were together at centre stage at the 60th Anniversary of VE Day in 2005 during the song "We'll Meet Again", the newspapers dubbed Jenkins "the new Forces' Sweetheart", a nickname given to Lynn during World War II.[24] Lynn had said to Jenkins that she ought to "go out and entertain the troops," which Jenkins promised she would.[24] In December 2005 and 2006 Jenkins travelled to Iraq to entertain the soldiers for Christmas.[12][55] On her first visit to Iraq in 2005, when travelling to Shaibah, the largest British base in Southern Iraq, the helicopter she was travelling in was targeted by missiles. Anti-missile flares were deployed and the group landed safely.[24]

In November 2008 Jenkins revealed to the Daily Mail that when she was a student she had taken class A drugs (cocaine and ecstasy) and cannabis. She noted that she was introduced to them by people she socialised with at the time and that she stopped taking them after signing her record deal in 2003.[56] In the article Jenkins said "taking drugs is the biggest regret of my life".

At the start of 2007 Jenkins made her first appearance in the British young people's Sunday Times Rich List which ranked her as the sixty-second richest young person in Britain with an estimated wealth of £9 million.[57] In 2010, the Sunday Times Rich List placed her at joint 11th in the Top 20 Young Millionaires list alongside Leona Lewis and Charlotte Church with an estimated wealth of £11 million.

In July 2010, Jenkins was reported to have bought a house with TV presenter Gethin Jones.[citation needed] In February 2011, they became engaged, but on 30 December 2011, Jenkins and Jones announced that they were no longer together.[58] In October 2013, she began dating American artist and film actor-director Andrew Levitas. Jenkins and Levitas later announced their engagement in April 2014.[59] The couple married at Hampton Court Palace on 27 September 2014.[60] Later, a religious blessing was conducted by a Vicar from her hometown.[61] On 13 April 2015, Jenkins announced that she was expecting her first child with her husband Levitas.[62] Jenkins gave birth to their first child, a daughter called Aaliyah Reign, in New York City in September 2015.[63] On 14 November 2017, Jenkins announced that she and Levitas were expecting their second child, due in 2018.[64] Their son, Xander Robert Selwyn, was born in April 2018.[65]